Monday, January 3, 2011

MSLIS Monday: 3 Down, 1 to Go

I have just finished my third semester in graduate school for my MSLIS. It is hard to believe how quickly I have gone from brand-new first-year, to nearly-done, job-hunter.

I really enjoyed my classes this semester. I took Introduction to Cultural Heritage Preservation, Telecommunications and Information Policy and Life Histories and Ethnographies. It was busy, to be sure, but I learned a lot and was surprised in many ways that the class I was least excited about became my favorite and the one I learned the most from.

IST 618, Survey of Telecommunications and Information Policy, if notorious for being despised by LIS majors. It is required for our degree, yet no one ever wants to take it and complain continuously about having to do so. After this semester, I understand and fully support the requirement and consider it one of the most important classes I have taken.

I took the class with Dr. Lee McKnight, who explained why information policy is so important using real life examples throughout class. He often brought up policies in libraries and that impacted libraries, both in class and in our readings. Additionally, our project was to create a case study and this allowed me to survey actual librarians about their internet usage policies, correlate the data, and create graphs and write a paper to explain our research's importance in relation to material my colleagues found in a literature review. I would classify this project as the most important in my time at SU this far.

My Introduction to Cultural Heritage Preservation class showed me the importance of collaboration between libraries, archives and museums (LAMS). My favorite parts were learning about social media and emerging technologies in preserving cultural heritage and looking into the part tourism plays in this topic, using information from the classes I have taken toward a tourism management degree, along with more recent research.

My Life Histories and Ethnographies class was not quite what I had expected, but I did read many fascinating ethnographies, wrote an autobiography and interviewed my father-in-law to write a life history on him. Learning about well-regarded ethnographic writers and reading what they have written is helpful in my genealogical research as I start to write profiles on my ancestors.

Overall, it was a wonderful semester and I look forward to beginning my forth, and last, semester at the end of January.

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About Me

I'm a mom, a traveler, a reader, a genealogist, and a librarian. I love to go on adventures big and small with my husband and 4 year old son, hang out with friends, wander through new cities, and stare at the stars.